Many citizens in this country have mail delivered to mailboxes remote from their home, usually located adjacent a nearby main thoroughfare. Mailboxes used are commonly mounted on poles or other suitable supports, and are generally formed of elongated, longitudinal containers having a hinged door which opens at one end thereof for delivering and removing articles of mail.
Mailboxes are, of course, common and well-known. One problem that often occurs with mailboxes is easy access to mail during the time when the homeowners are gone. Put another way, mail continues to pile up in the mailbox and is not removed. This is mail highly susceptible to theft because of the easy accessibility by simply opening the box door. It is, of course, necessary that the box door be easily accessible for the mailman on a daily basis. The theft of personal mail is one of the most insidious crimes threatening America today. For example, a new credit card may be stolen by a mail thief and the true owner will have no idea the credit card has been stolen until a large bill arrives, and the battle with the credit card company begins. The theft of social security checks is another common occurrence, the thefts facilitated by the knowledge that social security checks are sent out periodically at a publicly-known interval. Thus, during periods of time when homeowners are gone, there is a substantial risk of security violations for mailboxes.
In the past there have been some attempts at development of more secure mailboxes which perform both the function of easy access for mail carriers, and at the same time provide some means for storage in a non-accessible box area. However, generally those that have been developed in the past are bulky, use complex mechanical elements that are susceptible to failure, and are in effect cost prohibitive for real world use.
Accordingly, there is a real and continuing need for the development of mailboxes having both easy access for mail carriers, and at the same time having secure areas for mail storage, while at the same time doing so with a minimum of mechanical parts and yet provide a cost-effective mailbox. This invention has as its primary objective the fulfillment of this need.